Big Apple Picks Apple Green for Car Service in Boroughs

Michael Bloomberg, New York City mayor, front left, and David S. Yassky, commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, front right, unveil apple green as the official color for the so-called Boro Taxis. Photographer: Kristen Artz/Office of the Mayor via Bloomberg

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- New York City’s livery cars for
service outside Manhattan’s central business district are going
green -- literally.

The Big Apple has chosen apple green as the color for so-called Boro Taxis, the livery cars that for the first time will
be allowed to pick up passengers who hail them from curbs in the
city’s outer boroughs and northern Manhattan.

The announcement of the official color follows a new law in
February that brings legal taxi service to the 7 million New
Yorkers in the areas outside central Manhattan. Previously, only
yellow cabs were permitted to pick up fares on the street, while
car services were limited to calls dispatched by radio. The city
Taxi and Limousine Commission estimates more than 100,000
illegal hails take place each day, according to a statement.

“Apple green is very fitting for the new Boro Taxis,”
said David S. Yassky, commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine
Commission, in a statement. “It’s pleasing to the eye, easy to
see from a distance and blends well with the urban landscape.”

The city will issue a total of 18,000 Boro Taxi permits,
with the first 6,000 available starting in June, according to
the statement. The permits will cost applicants $1,500 each and
will be valid for three years.

The borough-based livery cars would have meters, roof
lights to signal availability, global positioning-system
locators and credit-card readers for payment, as yellow cabs do,
according to the statement.

Livery cars picking up pre-arranged passengers within
Manhattan will not need to change to apple green, Allan
Fromberg, a spokesman for the commission, said in a telephone
interview.

“For decades, the goal of bringing better taxi service to
residents and visitors outside of Manhattan eluded the city,”
said Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the statement. The Boro Taxis
will bring “thousands of” livery drivers “out of the shadows
and into the legal economy,” he said.

The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News
parent Bloomberg LP.